So many things about life can get us all riled up. From the lady in the turn lane that takes too long to go, to the cashier that gave you incorrect change….. Anything can escalate our day into a negative tailspin. Here are a few things that you just have to let go.
1. Someone got your order wrong.
Servers in restaurants or cafe’s are extremely busy. Sometimes they push the wrong button when entering your order. Soemtimes the chef that is cooking your food gets the order wrong. You have to let it go.
Nothing about the service industry is ever perfect. Sometimes your steak is cooked incorrectly, sometimes they bring you unsweet tea instead of sweet tea. Sometimes the expo person in the kitchen is having a bad day and just doesn’t care. Don’t let it ruin your meal. Ask them to correct it, and they will. An don’t be nasty about it…. they might spit in your food or drop it on the floor. Honestly if you’re nice about it, they will probably comp your meal. Cardinal rule, don’t mess with people that make your food. Seriously….. DON’T.
And also, don’t take it out on the server and leave a crappy tip. Their life is hard enough. They literally work for $2 an hour serving people like slaves. Cut them some slack and leave your frustration at the table. Always tip 20%.
2. The clerk has a bad attitude.
As stated before, the service industry is just plain tough. Working in any industry that services the public is very stressful, regardless of how mundane the task might be. People that work with the public deal with extremes of people all day long and that wear on even the most positive person.
Whether you are renewing your license plate registration or upgrading your cable subscription, please understand that the people answering the phone and the people behind the desk do not control anything. They are literally just following a manual that they were given. Stop yelling at them and getting pissed off that they can’t give you what you want. And if they have a bad attitude, your bad attitude won’t make it better.
If you are really extremely offended by something that happens in those interactions, you should ask for a supervisor and be nice to them. If they cannot help you you have to just get over yourself. Seriously, someone else is making their rules.
3. You don’t get recognized for your accomplishments.
People spend so much time and hoping for the “award”. The most sales, the best customer review, the employee of the year, best parent award….. whatever.
The fact is, some of the best employees that do the most work, don’t get recognized. So when someone where you work gets recognized for doing a great job, just congratulate them. Stop being jealous, stop telling people how it should’ve been you, just accept it and move on.
You know what you do. And if other people do not recognize it, then it’s their loss. Let people “less valuable” than you feel good about themselves for a while. You still have a job, right? Move on.
4. Road rage isn’t real.
Nothing is more common than getting pissed off while driving. Getting behind a slow driver or having someone cut you off is more frustrating than anything else in life sometimes.
But… You have got to let it go!!!! I can’t tell you how many times in my “previous life” that I let a road rage experience ruin my day. I also can’t tell you how many times since I learned to let those experiences go, that I have seen someone else let it ruin their day.
People are going to drive the way they want to no matter how closely you follow them or how loudly you honk your horn. And the worse you react to them, the worse they will react to you. It’s honestly laughable to me now when I see people get upset about “Road situations”.
You want to curse me out in the parking lot of Kroger because I took your space?….. It’s funny to me. You want to blow your horn and weave dangerously in and out traffic, only to arrive at the stop light right next to me 5 minutes later? You’re an idiot.
5. People will talk behind your back.
We all like to think that once we graduate high school our friends, our enemies and our associates stop talking behind our back. The reality, is that it never ends. Sometime we will walk in on our coworkers or friends talking about us or hear through the grape vine that they were.
You have to let it go.
It is human nature to talk about people. There is a famous quote that says “Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, small people talk about other people.”
Do things that you know will encourage people to talk positively about you. And if you do things that encourage people to talk negatively about you, either accept them or do things differently. But don’t be upset about it. Get over it.
There is enough stress in our daily lives that we shouldn’t create more out of nothing. Most of the things on this list are things that are out of our control. Sometimes we just have to accept that life isn’t perfect. We have to let the stress that we put on ourselves go. We can’t control everyone around us, and we can’t be so upset by other people’s actions.
Let it go!
A lesson and I wish I had learned much earlier in life.
Great Imperfections 